Valis: The Fantasm Soldier

About Valis: The Fantasm Soldier

Valis: The Fantasm Soldier (1986) is Wolf Team's action-platformer for Japanese computers, in which schoolgirl Yuko Asou wields the magic Valis sword to save three realms, the first game in Telenet's Valis series.

Valis: The Fantasm Soldier in Depth

The demon lord Rogles extinguishes the light that powers the dream world Vecanti, and its queen, Valia, calls out for a hero. Yuko Asou, an ordinary Japanese schoolgirl, answers and is made the Valis warrior, wielder of the sword that can free Vecanti and protect the Earth and the land of spirits. Her classmate Reiko Kirishima is brainwashed by Rogles into trying to destroy her. In the original MSX, PC-8801 and X1 versions and their FM-7 and PC-9801 ports, Yuko fights through each level's enemies, jumps between ledges and searches for items and power-ups, and defeating the boss at the end raises her maximum health and attributes. At points the game pauses for cinematic cut-scenes that tell the story.

The versions differ. The Family Computer version is closer to a side-scrolling action RPG, harder, with large maze-like levels with multiple paths and no password or save. The 1991 Mega Drive remake plays like later Valis games, especially Valis III, with buttons to slide, jump and swing an upgradeable sword and magic spells won from bosses. The 1992 PC Engine Super CD-ROM² remake changed the jumping and sliding and added voiced cut-scenes, with Sumi Shimamoto as Yuko, and a mobile version added new stages and costumes.

Making Valis: The Fantasm Soldier

Wolf Team, Telenet Japan's internal studio founded in 1986, made the game in about half a year. Hayashi and Yukio Mitsuhashi co-produced, designed and wrote it, Masahiro Akishino programmed the PC-8801 version and added scenario work, former Compile staffer Tomoki Anazawa programmed the MSX version, and Shinobu Ogawa composed the music. Akishino and Hayashi built their story and characters, Yuko and Reiko among them, on top of the project Osamu Ikegame had started before leaving Telenet.

Telenet published it for the MSX on 26 November 1986, followed by the PC-8801 and X1 that December and the FM-7 and PC-9801 in 1987; Tokuma Shoten published the Famicom version in 1987. It sold well and appeared among the best-selling games of 1987, though reviews of the MSX version were mixed, praising its graphics and music while criticising its difficulty. The Genesis remake drew average reviews, Sega Force summing it up as "High graphical content, low playability level", while the PC Engine remake was better liked, Retro Gamer calling it "arguably the best" in the series. Valis II, III and IV followed.